Seemorerocks: Dead bodies litter the beaches as Ecuador sees explosion in fatalities from the coronavirus

"Cemeteries Simply Cannot

Cope" As Ecuador's COVID

Death Rate Suddenly

Quadruples

19 April, 2020

While COVID-19 news flow from South America has been somewhat uneventful during the pandemic, one country to keep an eye on for future developments of a possible outbreak is Ecuador.

A new report via The Guardian has revealed some pretty shocking statics of a massive death surge over the last several months in one province of the country.

On a six-week basis, starting on March 01, 10,939 people have died in Guayas province, which is well above the six-week average of 3,000 deaths, representing a near quadrupling. Most of the deaths are situated in the province's largest city, Guayaquil.

However, there is some conflicting data, considering on Sunday morning (April 18), Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 data shows a total of 9,022 confirmed cases and 456 deaths in the country.

The country's interior minister Maria Paula Romo told the Guardian that virus deaths in Ecuador are much higher than official government data is reporting.

"The number of deaths is totally out of the ordinary," Romo told the Guardian.

The swelling mortality in Guayaquil suggests the city's health care system is overstretched and is the reason why bodies have been dumped into the streets.

"We've wanted to be open about the statistics for deaths to show a more complete panorama," Romo said, adding that the full statistics would explain "why the funeral services and cemeteries simply could not cope in recent days in Guayaquil and Guayas."

teleSUR English@telesurenglish

· Apr 5, 2020

#Ecuador | Citizens have posted this photo on their social media accounts. A person who died from #COVID19 is in the middle of an avenue in Guayaquil. The banner says: "We have called 911 and there is no help!" Users insist that burial services are collapsed. #Coronavirus

teleSUR English@telesurenglish

#Ecuador | The body of the person who died from #COVID19 and abandoned in the middle of an avenue in the city of #Guayaquil was already collected by the authorities.

21

10:57 AM - Apr 5, 2020

The fast-spreading virus has stunned Guayaquil officials. Government agencies have been paralyzed as corpses continue to overwhelm the hospital system. Last week, the government handed out cardboard coffins to residents who needed corpses removed from their homes.

Despite stringent stay-at-home public health orders, the province as a whole, more specifically, Guayaquil, could be the next major hotspot of the virus outbreak in South America and should be closely monitored.

Guayaquil has a population of about 3 million. The country has only administered 30,000 coronavirus tests, which suggests the true extent of the outbreak is unknown.

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